Background

Since 1974, the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) has operated and maintained the DoD PMRP to economically recover PMs from excess and surplus PM-bearing materials and reutilize recovered fine PM for authorized government contracts.

DoD Manual (DoDM) 4160.21 Volume 2, Defense Materiel Disposition: Property Disposal and Reclamation, outlines the requirements for DLA, DoD and participating Federal Civilian Agencies (FCA) (i.e., Department of Agriculture (DOA), Department of Justice )DOJ), Department of Transportation (DOT), among others). All DoD Components (i.e., US Army (USA), US Air Force (USAF), Department of Navy (DON), Missile Defense Agency (MDA), etc.) are required to participate in the PMRP.  The PMRP serves the DoD and participating FCAs by offering a no-cost disposal option for PM-bearing materials and low priced, readily available refined PM.

Closed-loop Cycle

The PMRP can be thought of as a “closed-loop” system where all PM used should be recycled back into PMRP for future use. This is accomplished through the following cycle:

1. End-of-life PM bearing items will be identified and turned into DLA Disposition Services for collection and recovery of PM contents.
2. DLA Disposition Services deposits recovered PM into DLA Troop Support's storage account as industry standard pure PM (such as 99.99% gold).
3. DLA Troop Support issues the recovered PM for authorized government supply contracts, producing PM-bearing items.
4. Government uses the PM bearing items until end-of-life and cycle starts at step 1 again.

Examples

Using the above “closed-loop” system, the PMRP has collected and refined $515 million worth of PM at a total operating cost of $180 million, saving taxpayers over $335 million in PM costs.

Examples of PM-bearing materials are: Circuit Cards, Wiring Harness, Solid State Drives, Transistors/Diodes, Gold Plated Connector Pins, Silver bearing films (X-rays, negative aerial, used/unused), Silver bearing batteries, Dental Scrap (used and unused), F22 exterior paints (chips, contaminated gear). For a complete listing refer to DoDM 4160.21 Volume 2 ,Table 7.

Examples of savings:

• DLA PM prices as of October 2019 (one set price per fiscal year):
  • Gold is set at $638.02 a troy ounce vs. an average market value of $1,600 a troy ounce
  • Silver is set at $4.04 a troy ounce vs. an average market value of $16.00 a troy ounce
• No-cost disposal for PM-bearing Hazardous Materials (H/M) and Hazardous Wastes (H/W):
  • PMRP pays for transportation and disposal of PM-bearing H/M and H/W with no cost to the generator
    • This can include, but not limited to, silver batteries, silver plating solution, silver bearing paint and many other hazardous types of property
  • PMRP can cover costs of unique PM recovery operations to include:
    • Equipment and supplies to operate silver recovery operations for photo development
    • Equipment and supplies to recover any other possible PM sources (such as vacuums/vacuum bags from PM dust)
    • Furnish funds to recover PM out of manufacturing operations.

Support the PMRP

DLA needs your help to continue and greater enhance the PMRP.  Direct DLA Points of Contact (POC) include:

• For turn-in of PM-bearing materials, DLA Disposition Services is the primary organization and can be contacted with an email to [email protected]
• For requisition (ordering) of PM, please contact a Commodity Business Specialist at DLA Troop Support for Metal Products and Services, 215-737-2877.